Google moves to dismiss Hanff privacy lawsuit

INTERNET SEARCH FIRM Google is trying to bat away a complaint from privacy campaigner Alexander Hanff over the recent changes it made to its user privacy policy.

Hanff is trying to get £400 out of the firm as recompense for changing its privacy policy on him without his permission. It did this to everyone of course, but Hanff picked up the torch for everyone else that is as disgruntled as he is.

Google took its time responding to Hanff, and now that it has it is asking the court to dismiss his claim.

"Google have filed a defence requesting the case be dismissed on jurisdictional grounds," Hanff tweeted.

Hanff said that although Google claims to have a UK office on its web site it is refusing to face the UK courts. He added that he would take his complaint to the US.

#Google UK Ltd. state I have to sue Google Inc. in California, I intend to challenge their defence again under UTCCR #privacy

"Google's Terms state all lawsuits must be filed against Google Inc. in Santa Clara, California. I received their official defence today stating the same and asking the court to dismiss the claim," he explained in an emailed statement.

"I intend to challenge the request for dismissal on the grounds that Google UK Ltd. is listed on Google's corporate web site as their UK Office and any terms which require lawsuits to be filed in California are fundamentally prejudicial under Unfair Terms in Consumer Contracts Regulations," he added.

"If the court upholds Google's request to dismiss then there is no effective remedy for plaintiffs in the UK (or indeed any other country in the world) as the cost of bringing a small claims case in California would be incredibly high - furthermore, taking action against Google under US Law in US Courts would not give a ruling under UK Law."

He added that Google did not cite any case law in its defence, but just asked for a dismissal. µ